Dr. ThomasTo ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to her oral reply to the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent (Mr. Foot),Official Report, 4 March, column 1284, if she will set out the basis for her statement that the Soviet Union probably has more nuclear warheads than any other country.
§ The Prime MinisterMy reply to the right hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent (Mr. Foot) reflected the fact that, while there is broad parity in the number of strategic systems held by the Soviet Union and the United States, in the intermediate and short-range category the Soviet Union has many more nuclear capable forces deployed than NATO, as indicated in figures 15 and 16 in annex A to the Statement on the Defence Estimates 1987, a copy of which is in the Library.
No estimate of warhead numbers can be precise, particularly because we cannot assess the number of nuclear warheads held in reserve by the Soviet Union, but on the basis of the number of deployed launchers the Soviet Union retains a considerable advantage over all NATO countries.